Baton-type arrest device

ABSTRACT

A pair of needle electrodes which are slightly spaced and are adapted to pierce the skin are normally concealed into a cylindrical casing but projected to pierce the skin only when the casing is pressed against the skin and in contact therewith. A minute electric current sufficient to create in the human body a false state of epilepsy is applied to the human body through the needle electrodes under the skin.

iinited States Patent Original application Dec. 6, 1966, Ser. No.599,446, now Patent No. 3,523,538, dated Aug. 11, 1970. Divided and thisapplication Mar. 9, 1970, Ser. No. 17,419

BATON-TYPE ARREST DEVICE 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

11.8. C1. 128/405 Int. Cl A61n l/04, A61n1/20,A61m 21/00 Field 011Search ..128/303.18, 394, 404, 405, 419-424; 17/1, 1 E; 43/17.1, 6;272/27 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 300,155 6/1984 Starr128/405 UX 1,158,473 11/1915 Floyd 128/405 X 2,033,397 3/1936 Richman128/303.18 X 2,253,315 8/1941 Andrus 17/1 E UX Primary Examiner-ChanningL. Pace Anomey- Eliot S. Gerber PATENTEDUEB Hen 3.625.222

FIG. I 2 I 34 3| .3 29 2028272226 2| |o23 3325 v MEL,

' INVENTOR "W W/Mr/zu ATTORNEY BATON-TYPE ARREST DEVICE The presentinvention is a division of U.S. Pat. application, Ser. No. 559,446,filed Dec. 6, I966, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,538 dated Aug. 11,1970.

The present invention relates to a weapon and more particularly to adevice with which a policeman may subdue a criminal.

At the present time the methods of placing a violent criminal or aninsane person under arrest may lead to his own injury, or the injury ofthe police or of innocent persons. It the police use their guns, thecriminal may be killed or innocent bystanders shot. If the policeattempt to sue their clubs, they may be injured while they are grapplingwith the burglar. It has been desired to provide a hand-carried arrestdevice which is to replace clubs.

It is the objective of the present invention to provide a device forsubduing criminals without killing or permanently injuring them.

It is a further objective of the present invention to provide abaton-type arrest device with which a criminal may be rendered helplesstemporarily.

This invention is based upon the discovery of a phenomenon that a minuteelectric current applied to two needle electrodes which are piercedunder the skin of the human body at a slight interval generates a greatelectric shock which cannot be generated if the same minute electriccurrent is applied through the same needle electrodes contacted upon theskin.

In accordance with the present invention, two electrode needles areprojected from a casing of a hand-carried device only when the casing ispressed against the skin of the human body and are pierced into the skinto come into contact with the subcutaneous fat layer of the skin. Theelectrodes are connected to batteries. The current is sufficient to stunthe criminal to a temporary state of false epilepsy, which renders himhelpless. The shock is not enough to kill or permanently injure thecriminal.

Other features and objectives of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of theinvention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a baton-type arresting device, the upper halfbeing sectioned and lower half being plan views;

FIG. 1 shows the position in which the electric shock needles cannot beprojected;

FIG. 2 shows the position in which the electric shock needles can beprojected;

FIG. 3 shows the position in which the electric shock needles areprojected.

The electrical resistance of the skin of the human body varies with itsdry or wet state and the size of the contact surface. However, the rangeof the resistance inside the body is said to be about l50 to 500 ohms.The strength of the electrical shock is related to the strength of theelectric current passing through the human body so that, even if thevoltage is high and the current is weak, there will be no danger. Forexample, in the case of an alternating current of the commercialfrequency (about l volts at 60 cycles), a considerable pain will be feltwith about 1 ma. of current, an unbearable pain will be felt with about10 ma., the muscle will shrink so much as not to move with 20 ma., and adanger of electric shock death will be caused with 50 ma. Such electricshocks upon the skin of the human body have been already utilized for aspecial therapy (so-called electric shock therapy) in the treatment ofpsychosis. The present invention utilizes the electric shock effect andflows an electric shock current through the human body. A pair ofneedles which are slightly spaced are pushed into the lower part of thesubcutaneous fat layer (not the skin surface) in order to cause atemporary false epilepsy. It was found that the minute electric currentapplied to a pair of electrode needles pierced under skin generates agreat electric shock which cannot be generated if the said electrodeneedles are contacted upon the skin surface. Therefore, the deviceaccording to the present invention will cause a temporary false epilepsyby a minute electric current which is effective in rendering thecriminal helpless and yet is safe.

An arresting device of the invention is adapted to be used instead ofthe conventional nightstick (baton). An electric shock currentgenerating device is contained in a container (battery) l0 which isfitted in a thin long cylindrical hollow body 20. A pair of electricshock needles 1 is fitted at one end surface of said cylindrical body20. The outer surface of the rear part of the cylindrical body 20 has amale screw 21 to which are screwed an adjusting ring 22 and a cap 23.The cap 23 has a pushbutton switch 33. The cap 23 also has an electricbulb 24 and its socket 25 is in contact with the output terminal 11 ofthe electric shock current generating device. A conducting plate 26comes into contact with the socket 25 when the pushbutton switch 33 ispushed. Plate 26 is connected with a conducting plate 28 throughconductive connector 27 at the inside wall of the cylindrical body 20 inits lengthwise direction. A conducting plate 31 is secured to the endsurface of the side to which are fitted the electric shock needles 1.

Plate 31 is electrically connected with the electric shock needles 1through a lead wire 32.

On the outer surface of the forward end of the cylindrical body 20 aprotective cylinder 34 is fitted, having a pair of small holes 2,opposite the electric shock needles 1. The protective cylinder 34 andthe cylindrical body 20 are connected with each other through a spring36 fixed to them at their respective ends. In the position shown in FIG.I, in which the opposed end surfaces of the protective cylinder 34 andadjusting ring 22 are in contact with each other, the protectivecylinder 34 cannot move rightward. But, in such state in which theadjusting ring 22 has retreated as is shown in FIG. 2, the protectivecylinder 34 can retreat against the force of the spring 36 into contactwith the adjusting ring 22 so that the electric shock needles 1 maycorrespondingly project out of the small holes 2 (see FIG. 3). Theprojecting length of each electric shock needle can be adjusted by theset position of the adjusting ring 22. The position of the adjustingring 22 is determined by judging the thickness of the clothing worn bythe criminal. The inserted length of each electric shock needle may beadjusted to the clothes of the criminal, whether the criminal wears anovercoat in winter or only a shirt in summer. When the end surface ofthe protective cylinder is pushed into contact with the criminal, theprotective cylinder 34 will retreat and the electric shock needles 1will be able to be pushed into the body of the criminal through theclothing.

A spindle 35 within the protective cylinder 34 has pasted on its surfacea conducting plate 30. Plate 30 is in sliding contact with theconducting plate 31 of the cylindrical body. A conducting plate 29 is insliding contact with the conducting plate 28 of the cylindrical body isfixed to the tip of said spindle. Therefore, after or when the electricshock needles l are pushed into the body of the criminal, if thepushbutton switch 33 is pushed, an electric circuit is formed. Thecircuit includes the output terminal 11 of the electric shock currentgenerating device, electric bulb 24, socket 25, conducting plate 26,connector 27, conducting plates 28 to 31, lead wire 32, electric shockneedles 1 and the human body. The criminal will receive the electricshock current and will immediately lose his power to resist. When thecylindrical body 20 is pulled, clue to the returning force of the spring36, the electric shock needles 1 will retreat and hide in the protectivecylinder 34 (FIG. 2). Further, when not in use, if the position shown inFIG. 1 is kept, the electric shock needles will not project and will besafe.

When the cylindrical body 20, protective cylinder 34, adjusting ring 22and cap 23 are molded of strong plastic, they will be able to be madelight and tough. The entire apparatus may be made so small as to beadapted to be carried in a handbag of a lady for self-protection.Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the electric bulb 24 may beutilized, for example, for traffic signaling at night and forcommunication by the flicker of the bulb. But it has no directconnection with the present invention and therefore shall not bedetailed herein.

Though the present invention has been described with reference to theparticular embodiment of the arrest device. it can be adapted for otherelectric shock generating devices, for example, for causing beasts toattain a syncopic state.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric shock generating device comprising a pair of electrodeneedles sufficiently sharp to pierce the skin, a source of electriccurrent of sufficient intensity to induce false epilepsy, meansconnecting said needles to said supply, a hand-carried casing containingsaid source of electric current and said connecting means and providedat one end with said pair of electrode needles, and means within saidcasing for normally concealing said needles and for projecting saidneedles only when desired.

2. An electric shock generating device as claimed in claim 1, whereinsaid means for normally concealing said needles is a protective cylinderslidably fitted around the fore end portion of said casing andcomprising a front plate with two holes opposite to said pair ofneedles, a conducting plate projecting inside of the protectivecylinder, and a spring housed between the conducting plate and anotherconducting plate which is connected to the front end of the casing, saidspring urging forward the first-mentioned conductive plate as well asthe protective cylinder to conceal the needles therein, thereby saidneedles are only projected outside of the protective cylinder when thefront plate is pressed against an object to be pierced and by such aforce enough to extend the spring.

3. An electric shock generating device as claimed in claim 2 furthercomprising a cylindrical member engaged with the rear end portions ofthe casing to adjust the length of slide of the protective cylinder,thereby adjusting the length of needles to be projected outside of theprotective cylinder.

4. An electric shock generating device as claimed in claim 3 furthercomprising an electric bulb connected to an output terminal of thesource of electric current and a pushbutton switch to selectively forman electric circuit through the needles and the object being pierced.

5. An electric shock generating device as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid source of electric current is a battery providing low voltagedirect current.

t t i I II

1. An electric shock generating device comprising a pair of electrodeneedles sufficiently sharp to pierce the skin, a source of electriccurrent of sufficient intensity to induce false epilepsy, meansconnecting said needles to said supply, a handcarried casing containingsaid source of electric current and said connecting means and providedat one end with said pair of electrode needles, and means within saidcasing for normally concealing said needles and for projecting saidneedles only when desired.
 2. An electric shock generating device asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said means for normally concealing saidneedles is a protective cylinder slidably fitted around the fore endportion of said casing and comprising a front plate with two holesopposite to said pair of needles, a conducting plate projecting insideof the protective cylinder, and a spring housed between the conductingplate and another conducting plate which is connected to the front endof the casing, said spring urging forward the first-mentioned conductiveplate as well as the protective cylinder to conceal the needles therein,thereby said needles are only projected outside of the protectivecylinder when the front plate is pressed against an object to be piercedand by such a force enough to extend the spring.
 3. An electric shockgenerating device as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a cylindricalmember engaged with the rear end portions of the casing to adjust thelength of slide of the protective cylinder, thereby adjusting the lengthof needles to be projected outside of the protective cylinder.
 4. Anelectric shock generating device as claimed in claim 3 furthercomprising an electric bulb connected to an output terminal of thesource of electric current and a pushbutton switch to selectively forman electric circuit through the needles and the object being pierced. 5.An electric shock generating device as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidsource of electric current is a battery providing low voltage directcurrent.